Escape the Squeemother!

“Faster!”

Lyra yelled behind her as she ran as fast as she could through the thick snow. It was hard to tell if it could even be heard over the howling winds. The strength of the gusts hurt her eyes as she scanned around looking for Almond. The poor Clayfox was smaller than the depth of the snow and the only way they could move forward was by endlessly hopping, crashing back into the depths of the white abyss with each landing. They were struggling.

Lyra threaded back to Almond. They were sure to get caught at this pace, and she couldn’t leave the fox behind when they had saved them from danger previously. Just before Almond took another jump forward, she leaned down slightly.

“Quick! Get on my back!”

Almond didn’t hesitate for a second. They quickly climbed out of the snow and latched their claws into her back. Lyra hissed at the sudden sharp prick, but the pain of it was soon covered up by the intensity of the winds against her fur. Now out of the snow, Almond had gotten to experience them as well. Their ears pinned to the side of their head as they shivered. At least they didn’t need to worry about their eyes.

Lyra continued running. The warrior Clayfoxes were still giving chase, gaining on them. Their longer and more powerful legs let them stride through the snow at a greater speed than the spacecat. They were sure to catch up to them at any point.

I can’t let them catch me! I’ll be dead!

While Lyra had been following Almond in the caves to find the three who took her belongings, they had unfortunately come face to face with two warrior Clayfoxes. They didn’t need to look at her for two seconds before realizing she wasn’t a Clayfox and they had no interest in listening to Almond’s defence. They insisted on bringing the outsider to Yggdrasil, which Almond had filled her in that if she ever got caught by him or captured by someone else who closely followed him, she’d be killed. They had no other choice but to make a break for it. Almond took the lead to make tunnels for the two to crawl through, but the other Clayfoxes did the same to tail them. Lyra could hear them digging through the ground right behind her back paws, afraid they would grab her at any moment. Eventually, the two of them broke through the dirt and emerged… outside? It shocked both of them. Lyra assumed she would be eternally grateful the next time she saw the sky again, but Awan’s harsh outside conditions made her reconsider.

She just had to keep running no matter what. She couldn’t give up. She thought about abandoning the idea of getting her things back and just running back to the ship, but she had no idea where it was anymore. Maybe she could write off the emergency device, but she couldn’t leave behind the bracelet she’d lost. It was too important. Plus, if she had the chance to make it to the ship, what would happen to Almond? She couldn’t leave them to face those other Clayfoxes, who were mad at them for defending an outsider, and taking them with her would only cause more problems when other creatures would see them upon her return and question them, revealing the existence of Clayfoxes to everyone. 

Lyra could hear the growls of the Clayfoxes behind her. They were close. Too close. 

Agh!

That’s when a thundering and shrill scream echoed through the sky. Everyone froze, even the accosting Clayfoxes. A ginormous shadow covered the ground, shading all those standing in the snow from its light. It was like the sun had turned off from how dark it became. Lyra slowly turned her head to see the cause of all of this, and her eyes shrunk to the size of pinpricks.

A beast loomed over them. It was the biggest thing she had ever seen in her life. It towered over the surrounding trees. Its face had such an unusual shape; it was so… flat. It stared at all the creatures down below with eyes narrowed into paper-thin slits, teeth bared into a snarl.

Nobody dared to move as the thing's eyes darted from animal to animal. It eventually chose to stare down Lyra, sending a chill down her spin ten times worse than anything she felt from the freezing winds rippling through her pelt. She felt her body get heavy, almost like she was sinking deeper into the snow than before. Her mind read nothing but static. 

One of the warrior Clayfoxes acted. They yelled and ran away, probably faster than they had ever run before. Unfortunately, that made all attention fall on them, including that of the enormous beast in front of them. It let out another ear-shattering cry as it turned to the escaping Clayfox. Given its size, it took no time to catch up to the scared fox. With precision, it raised its front talons and slammed it down, causing a large plume of snow to shoot up. It lifted its talons, now dripping red and leaned forward to inspect its victim. Lyra’s jaw gaped in horror as she witnessed the surrounding snow shift from pure white to red as it soaked up blood. She couldn’t fully see the aftermath, but she was grateful that was the case.

Almond grabbed Lyra’s ear, getting her attention off the sight. Getting in really close, they harshly whispered into it.

“Hide! NOW!”

While the beast was still distracted, Lyra dashed to the trees, carefully not to make much noise. She reached a taller tree and pressed herself against its trunk. The other Clayfox started looking around for a place to hide, before hastily digging in the snow. Lyra watched them disappear into the whiteness.

‘Hide in the trees! It’s better cover!” Almond cried from her feet.

“I am hiding in the trees!” She growled back.

“No, in the trees! Your fur sticks out too much against the ground!”

In the trees?

She looked up to inspect the tree. It had some thick-looking branches. Would that be enough to hold their weight?

Almond didn’t seem to think about it and had started scaling the length of its trunk. Their claws sunk deep into the bark and they began moving upwards. They were pretty good at it, moving at a quick pace.

“H-Hey! Wait!” Lyra called out before copying the fox’s actions. Thankfully, the bark was thick, and her claws got a good hold. Lyra was pretty inexperienced with climbing, but the adrenaline coursing through her veins washed away any uncertainty in her. She kept an eye on Almond, watching them climb until they reached the tangle of branches, picking one to perch on. Lyra reached the same branch and clutched onto it. It was wide enough to allow her some space to sit on it. Lyra considered herself incredibly lucky these trees were so large and strong. It also gave them a break from the chilly air.

Almond was calming down from hyperventilating, panting incredibly hard. 

“Ok… I think we’ll be fine here for now…” Given everything, they were pretty nonchalant about all of this.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘FINE’?” Lyra yelled, her fear painting her voice with anger. “YOU SAW THAT THING! WHAT THE FUCK EVEN IS THAT!?”

“Shush! It’s going to hear you!” Almond put a claw to Lyra’s snout and pinned back their ears. “It’s the Squeemother.”

SqueeMOTHER!? Lyra’s thoughts echoed loudly through her head. She thought the Squees were bad enough, but now there was one more than double the size of one who had just made quick work of someone who was already towering over her. There was no way she was bigger than one of its toes. 

And now that beast was on the hunt for more. 

Lyra pushed Almond’s claws off her face. She started sputtering about a mile a minute, harsh tone now reduced to a quiver. “W-Wh-what the hell are we gonna do?? T-That thing is gonna KILL us!”

“I-I don’t know…” Almond’s ear drooped. “This is why I stay underground… So I can avoid these things…”

“Can’t you just dig for us? T-That’s how the other guy got away!”

“I can, b-but… We can’t be seen. At all. I-If it sees us, it’ll definitely catch up to us…”

Lyra peered through the branches, looking to see where the Squeemother had gone. It was still positioned by the poor Clayfox, its face buried in the red snow where it had been struck. It seemed very occupied…

“I think it’s still busy with… um…” Her voice trailed off. She had a dark hunch of what it was doing, but she didn’t want to say it, mostly for the sake of her own sanity.

“We can’t risk it seeing us…We have to distract it with something…” 

Lyra looked around, trying to get an idea of what to do. Her eyes fell upon Almond’s back.

“What’s in your backpack?”

“Hm?” They were caught off guard for a moment by the question, before catching back up. They took the bag off their back and put it in front of them. “Oh… I don’t think I have much that can help… it's mostly stuff that helps me study plants.”

Inside their bag were several notepads and pencils, some containers with plants, a small knife, ropes, and small pieces of trash. Lyra tried to think. Almond was right, most of the stuff they had wasn’t going to be much help. The only thing that seemed like it would do anything was the knife, but given the size of it and the size of the two of them, using it to defeat the Squeemother would not only fail, but it would be a stupid idea to even try.

Jeez, do we really have nothing to beat this thing with? Lyra’s thoughts filled with dread. At this point, I’d need to be able to turn into a massive dragon or something like that to even stand a chance in any kind of fight!

“I just thought of something.” Almond broke the silence.

“Huh? What?” Lyra tilted her head. The fox reached up and snapped a branch off the tree. Then another. And another.

“A decoy.” They took the rope from the bag. “We make a dummy out of these branches, toss it, and make a break for it.”

“What? That’s crazy! How do you know that’ll work?”

“...I don’t, but it’s the best option we have…”

Lyra sat and watched as Almond continued to break branches off and tie them together, creating thick bundles of sticks. It seems they were set on this plan. I guess they were right… She couldn’t think of any other bright ideas.

With a sigh, Lyra joined Almond in snapping off sticks and tying them together. With the two working together, they made pawful of bundles, enough to arrange into a vague quadruped shape. It wasn’t particularly large or detailed, but at least it had four legs, a body, a neck, and an implied head shape. Hopefully, it would be enough.

“Now what do we do with this?” 

“We chuck it at that thing, then we run. After we’re far enough from it, I’ll start digging.”

Lyra shot a glance back to the Squeemother. It hadn’t moved from its spot and was still focused on the ground. This was their chance. Her gaze shifted back to Almond and she nodded.

“Let’s go.” 

The pair descended the tree. Almond latched onto Lyra’s back once more as she held the dummy in her jaws. She landed in the snow as quietly as she could and took careful steps forward toward the Squeemother, getting as low to the ground as possible. The dummy dragged through the snow below her. She got to the edge of the line of trees, dangerously close to losing her cover. Taking a moment to calm down, she turned to face Almond.

“Ready?”

“Ready.”

Lyra took a deep breath before she prepared herself. Then, with one big swinging motion, she flung the dummy through the air. Due to it being made from branches, it wasn’t too heavy so it flew a sizable distance. Before the thing even hit the ground, the two of them ran in the opposite direction at lightning speed, Almond giving her directions to the ideal place for them to start digging. Once the dummy landed, the Squeemother made a subtle noise, which the pair elected to ignore while they kept running. 

“Here!”

Almond jumped off Lyra’s back and into the snow, nearly disappearing due to how deep it was. They started kicking up the snow and then dirt as they tunnelled through the earth. Lyra watched as she waited for the tunnel to be dug wide enough for her to crawl through, bouncing up and down on the spot. 

“Come on! You can follow me now!” Almond’s voice echoed through the tunnel they had just dug. Before she jumped into the hole, she flashed one quick look back at the Squeemother to see if it had chased them. She saw it leaning over their crafted dummy with narrowed eyes and a bloodied face. After seeing that, she wasted no time and went through the tunnel, following close behind Almond. Eventually, they emerged back into the caves from before.

They had done it! They successfully survived the Squeemother! Not much of a fight, but taking the careful approach was the best and safest method they could have done. The low light of the bioluminescent mushrooms felt more comforting than the sight of the bright blue sky she had just gotten. Though, she was over this whole planet by now and dreamed of the moment she’d be able to get back on the ship.

Once I find that bracelet, I’m getting the hell out of here and never coming back.